As the pundits take turns deifying and then roasting Karl Rove for his supposed involvement in the Valerie Plame leak, there is a much more important (albeit less sexy) issue at play here: Why was a supposedly "secret" CIA agent ever that close- even though personal relationships- to the ever ugly game of partisan politics?
Unlike most Americans, I don't watch a lot of thriller movies laden with gritty yet efficiently secretive government agents. I tend to find the idealized perfectionism of any governmental process... let's just say, unrealistic. That being said, while I've always understood that agencies such as the FBI or CIA certainly possess some of the same political inefficiencies as any large organization, I've always assumed that by rule detrimental politics never made its way to the front lines- where agents are supposedly doing work of paramount importance, not merely, say, processing drivers license renewals.
The Karl Rove/Valerie Plame controversy sheds a little more light on the surprisingly bungled inner workings of the most powerful government in the world. But not for the reasons everyone is focusing on. The leak itself isn't actually all that surprising. Politics is naturally and inescapably dirty business, hence we have multiple autonomous branches of government in check with each other. American democracy was built under the knowledge that, no matter what rules are in place, those in power will often tend to do short-sighted- even illegal- things for political reasons. The architecture of the system- not laws or unwritten rules- is what is supposed to keep the government from cannibalizing itself.
Sure, whoever leaked Plame's identity- be it Karl Rove or the White House mailroom clerk- most likely did something wrong, and should be punished justly. The problem, however, is that our fetish with political scandal may cause the investigation to stop there. Taking a step back from the admittedly sexier "Yet Another Watergate Redux," we should really be wondering how a secret agent of the CIA would ever be allowed anywhere near such a political situation.
- FAULTS IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF INTELLIGENCE -
You see, neither a Karl Rove, nor a Bob Novak, nor any individual should ever be in a situation where they could put a Valerie Plame's CIA career- or life- in peril through an unveiling of her secretive position. Thus, it is the system that should be examined for fault first here. Unfortunately, we're finding out yet again that our most important non-political, security-focused agencies- namely the CIA- is not impervious to the downfalls of political infighting.
This whole mess came about when Joseph Wilson, Plame's husband, was sent to Niger by the CIA to investigate certain claims of Iraq attempting to buy uranium from the African nation. Wilson found no evidence of pending uranium sales, and reported his facts back to the CIA. Later, Wilson becomes angered by his reports being ignored by the Bush Administration, and goes off and writes an angry Op-Ed piece in the New York Times. Low and behold, a smear campaign erupted. His wife's identity was leaked.
Beyond the leak, one of two things is very wrong with this picture: either Wilson, as a CIA operative, shouldn't be entering the realm of political punditry, or the CIA shouldn't be allowing their secret agents to be all that close to people who have the ear of both the New York Times and The Bush Administration.
